North Pearsall, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in North Pearsall, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single North Pearsall lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around North Pearsall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Pearsall — the short answer
North Pearsall, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 302 days between hard freezes, across 912 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Frio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Frio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~302
- Frio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 912 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Frio County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is North Pearsall's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Pearsall's 302-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Pearsall
Each reading below is measured for North Pearsall itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNorth Pearsall runs about 302 days between hard freezes (read from Frio County, the closest normal to North Pearsall) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredNorth Pearsall sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country North Pearsall is in
North Pearsall sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at North Pearsall's own centroid rather than borrowed from Frio County.
What Grows in North Pearsall
Every plant below cleared North Pearsall's own zone 9a and its 302-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Pearsall?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near North Pearsall
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Pearsall. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PEARSALL POWER PLANTBrownfields · 2500 ft
- INGRAM READYMIXUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- HELENA CHEMICAL COBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- KB-77-08-403Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- PAWLIKS ACE HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- MUNIZ FIRST STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #3831Brownfields · 1.5 mi
- NEXTERA ENERGY RESOURCES LA SALLE PIPELINE STEC NAT GAS YARDBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- WALMART 478Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- CHAPARRAL STOP & SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- CORNER STORE 0996Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- KB-77-08-716Nitrate · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Pearsall's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near North Pearsall.
Total Sites
80
within ~10 miles of North Pearsall
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Pearsall
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Pearsall
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Pearsall, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of North Pearsall. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in North Pearsall
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Pearsall average
Your land is one point inside North Pearsall
Everything above resolves to North Pearsall as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 912 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Frio County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the North Pearsall Average
North Pearsall Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across North Pearsall
- ●One soil character for all of North Pearsall
- ●Frost dates read at North Pearsall's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Pearsall's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Pearsall
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Pearsall, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Pearsall averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Pearsall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Pearsall average
How we know this about North Pearsall
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Frio County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about North Pearsall
When does frost risk typically end in North Pearsall?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Pearsall typically lands around Feb 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 1.
When is the first frost in North Pearsall?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Pearsall typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 302 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Pearsall?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Pearsall sees about 302 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 23, about 267 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Pearsall?
The federal record around North Pearsall shows 80 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (46), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in North Pearsall?
From about Nov 7 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Pearsall's scale — its 9a band and its 302-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Pearsall's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at North Pearsall’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at North Pearsall's own scale — the 912 acres it covers and 80 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Pearsall's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 80 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Pearsall, the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Pearsall's boundary and the 912 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~302-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Pearsall's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — North Pearsall has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Frio County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Pearsall's 912 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Frio County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Frio County
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Frio County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Pearsall's 912 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Pearsall you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 912 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any North Pearsall-wide figureread your own land →